CHAPTER V 



CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF ALPINE PLANTS 



THAT which is bound to strike the observer at once 

 about Alpine plants is the large size and profusion 

 of their flowers in comparison with the dimensions 

 of the plants themselves. All about them, except 

 their blossoms, appears on such a restrained scale. 

 Generally they are of a dwarf and stunted nature 

 a small moss-like tuft or compact, leafy rosette, 

 hugging the soil whilst their blossoms are either 

 so numerous as to completely hide them under 

 a wealth of colour as in the case of the Moss 

 Campion (Silene rupestris] and the Bastard Cress 

 ( Thlaspi rotundifolium) or are so large as to equal 

 and often surpass the size of the plant itself as in 

 the case of the Bell-Gentian (Gentiana Kochiana) 

 and the Alpine Viola ( Viola calcarata). It is as if 

 their whole energy was given up to making them- 

 selves as attractive and irresistible as possible to 

 the bees and butterflies. And this, no doubt, is 



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